In the time before COVID (aka The Before Times) there were lots of opportunities to kill five minutes during the course of a day: at a restaurant waiting for your order, in the waiting room at the dentist’s office, the torturous minutes before a playdate, or (my personal favorite) in line for a ride at Walt Disney World. So when you find yourself with a handful of minutes to spare, consider one of these games that are short on playing time, but long on fun.
Iota
Gamewright markets Iota as “The Great Big Game in the Teeny Weeny Tin.” It’s little, it’s portable, and it is deceptively challenging.
It plays a lot like dominos crossed with Rummikub. Each player takes turns adding cards to a grid, making sure that either color, shape, and number have one element in common or all completely different from one another.
It sounds easy, but as the grid expands, whoever sees the possibilities first will seize the win!
Toss Up
One of my family’s favorite dice games, Toss Up by Playmonster, is a crazy addictive, high-risk, high-reward game of math, chance, and nerve.
Toss Up’s only mechanic is to roll dice that have colored faces: green, yellow, and red. Much like a traffic light, the color that is face-up on each roll determines whether you can move forward with your turn.
The goal is to roll 100 green dice, but there’s a catch! The other faces of the dice, red and yellow, can set you back or cause you to start your game completely over. Assess your risk carefully, is it worth rolling that one last die? You’ll only know if you try!
Eye Found It
In Ravensburger’s Eye Found It card game, players explore twelve beloved Disney realms, from Radiator Springs and Alice’s Wonderland to Peter Pan’s Neverland and Pooh’s Hundred Acre Wood.
It would be easy to get lost in the scenes this beautifully illustrated game, but players need to have a keen eye to spot specific items in an ever-changing list. Be the first to find the hidden treasures to clear your hand and win! Great for non-readers, and Disney fanatics.
Sushi Go
Imagine you and your fellow players are at a conveyor belt sushi restaurant. Gamewright’s game inventor Phil Walker-Harding created a unique spin on the card-drafting mechanic that makes for a game that's easy to learn, quick to play, and has tons of replay value.
Gather the most delicious and high-scoring dishes as you rack up points in this adorable card game. You could score points for making the most maki rolls or for collecting a full set of sashimi. Pair your favorite nigiri with wasabi to triple its value. Be sure to leave room to have pudding for dessert or it will take a bite out of your score!
Pizza Party
In Pizza Party, the fun and frantic dice game from University Games, players roll their dice to match the toppings on their corresponding pizza-slice shaped card. Keep rolling and collecting ingredients until all the spots on your card are filled. Then grab another card and keep going!
The first player to finish filling six cards creates a whole pizza pie and wins! Great for non-readers. Pizza Party is designed to be a two-player game, but multiple copies of the game allow for larger parties to enjoy the fun.
Outfoxed
Outfoxed is a delightful cooperative detective game from Gamewright. Players work together to determine who pilfered Mrs. Plumpert’s prized pot pie. There are sixteen sneaky suspects to evaluate, so players need to gather clues and use the special evidence scanner to rule out suspects.
You’ll have to work together to nab the culprit before they make it to safety with the delicious prize. Collect clues from around the board and flex your problem-solving muscles, or else you’ll be...Outfoxed!
Get Bit!
"You don't have to be faster than the shark, just faster than your friends!"
Mayday Games’ Get Bit! is a fast-paced card game where players are competing to avoid being eaten by a shark. The players are represented by jointed figurines, and the order of the swimmers is determined by simultaneously playing cards that determine their position in line.
Whoever ends up as the swimmer at the back loses a limb (literally!) to the shark and is flung to the front of the line. The gameplay is repeated until only two swimmers remain on the table. The swimmer at the front of the line wins the game!
Fun artwork and customizable figurines make Get Bit a great addition to your game collection. Expansion packs allow you to add additional players, or change the gameplay by adding the Dolphin Die for an extra challenge.
Cat Stax
They say cats always land on their feet, but that may not necessarily be the case in Brainwright’s Cat Stax. Like its siblings, Hay Stax and Dog Pile, players must stack animal figures into a very specific shape.
Select one of 48 challenges, then arrange all of the cats on the card so that they fit perfectly within the grid. Since the cats come in all shapes and sizes, you'll have to figure out how they precisely nestle together to solve each challenge.
Codenames
In Czech Games Edition’s Codenames, two rival spymasters must contact their fellow agents who are deep undercover. Their teammates only know the agents only by their codenames.
The teams compete to see who can make contact with all of their agents first. Spymasters give one-word clues to help guide their teammates in choosing one of the codenames on the board.
They must try to guess words while avoiding those that belong to the opposing team. But beware! If you make contact with the assassin, it’s game over for you.
Qwixx
Another great game from Gamewright, Qwixx is a fast-moving dice game that is simple to play but each decision is crucial - the more numbers you can cross off of your sheet, the more points you score. With all players rolling simultaneously, there is no downtime between turns.
Players have to think fast, plan carefully, and score big. Once you skip a number in a sequence on your score pad, it’s out of play until the end of the game.
Once players get enough numbers crossed off their sheet, they can lock a row, denying the other players a chance to score on that number. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins!
